The Microsoft data solution: the factory of factories

At Incentro, we keep an eye on current market developments, including those among the three major cloud providers: Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Google. In this article, I discuss one of the latest services from Microsoft Azure. Like AWS and Google, Microsoft is actively expanding its portfolio with comprehensive solutions that combine various services.

Recently, Microsoft launched a new solution called Microsoft Fabric. It’s an almost self-service platform focused on combining data engineering, AI, and dashboarding. According to their own statement, this solution bridges the gap between data and intelligence.

Within the data domain, this is certainly a service you won’t forget soon and will be frequently used in Microsoft-oriented organizations. I am happy to explain in this article why this is the case.

What makes this interesting for you?
Self-service BI is still a widely discussed topic within organizations, particularly when it comes to visualizing and analyzing data. In the future, we will see that back-end data engineering, such as ETL pipelines, will increasingly focus on self-service as well. By self-service, we mean the ability to create things easily on your own, without requiring deep technical knowledge. The possibilities are expanding, and using these tools is becoming increasingly straightforward. Microsoft Fabric adds a new dimension to this trend.

What is this tool/technique about?
Microsoft Fabric is a platform that combines various Azure services, making it unique in its kind. Its goal is to simplify data engineering in an interactive and visual way. Below is an overview of the services included within it.

Imagine a real factory (also known as a data foundation) where data engineers, data analysts, data scientists, data stewards, and business users collaborate on a final product. The idea behind this is that all these groups of users can work with the same set of tools, centered around various data sources. Together, this creates a kind of assembly line that runs continuously.

How does it work?
Microsoft Fabric consists of several services within Azure:

• Azure Synapse (storage & analytics)
• Integrated Power BI (reports/dashboarding)
• Data Factory (ETL)
• Data Activator (preview)

These services are not discussed individually in this article. However, I would like to walk you through the look and feel of Fabric and the integrations it offers.

Interface
How the interface looks, is visible in the following screenshot:

Storage & analytics
The idea behind Fabric is that you can manage all your data sources from a single, unified location, functioning as a kind of data repository. This acts like a database but is now integrated with other services within a single portal.

This is very similar to a SQL interface. Microsoft Fabric also offers a user interface (similar to BigQuery) for executing SQL queries on your data.

Of course, all services are manageable. Through an admin portal, the services can be configured, monitored, and managed.

Microsoft Fabric also integrates with other 365 apps through the same portal, making it highly suitable for organizations that already use many other 365 apps. This provides a native and seamless integration.

Cost Management
Regarding Cost Management, Microsoft Fabric has integrated this into a single portal (including Power BI costs!). This way, you can easily monitor the costs of the fabric.

Reporting
The visualization options are relatively straightforward. Power BI is used, with an integrated version embedded within Microsoft Fabric. Here’s an example of what this looks like. This is also a new version of Power BI that is now available online. Microsoft has recently updated the Power BI portal and formatted it in the same style.

There is also an OpenAI (Copilot) feature, which allows pre-defined AI models to be applied to the data. Additionally, you can create and use your own AI models with the Copilot feature.

When should you definitely use this?
Are you looking for an all-in-one solution without having to worry about how everything connects? Then Microsoft Fabric is definitely for you!

This suite of capabilities can be used in various use cases:

• Organizations that do not yet have a data foundation and want to set one up “easily” using Microsoft Azure.
• Organizations seeking a comprehensive all-in-one data platform within the Microsoft stack, due to familiarity and trust in Microsoft.
• Organizations looking for an immediate complete data solution (AI, ETL, visualization) without extensive custom integrations, where self-service is a key component.

Conclusion
This article has provided you with a glimpse into the world of Microsoft Fabric. It offers a compelling combination of services that can serve as the foundation for data infrastructure in any organization. It is certainly worth trying out!

References
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-fabric

Author
Nick Boogaard